Healthcare providers say AI helps them focus on patients. But it also raises questions about privacy, security and the role of humans in medicine
Publish Date: 2026-05-15 04:45:00
Source Domain: cardinalnews.org
Robbie Price, a Centra Health nurse practitioner based in Bedford County, has seen a lot of ways to take notes during his two decades of work in healthcare.
Simple handwriting. Microrecorders. Voice recognition software.
Now there’s something new: an artificial intelligence-powered “ambient digital scribe.” Price said it’s been “transformational on the clinical end.”
The so-called scribe is software on a medical provider’s phone that listens as the provider speaks with a patient. It then turns their conversation into a fully formed clinical note. Centra, based in Lynchburg, began using it in July.
The app allows a provider to focus more fully on the patient instead of taking notes. It automatically filters out non-clinical conversation topics, such as how someone’s dog or favorite baseball team is doing.
A few minutes after the visit ends, the app produces a complete clinical note, said Price, who also serves as Centra’s director of advanced practice provider operations.
“So really, it’s kind of turned the providers from more creators of the note to more editors,” he said.
Roanoke-based Carilion Clinic began integrating AI-powered documentation, such as digital scribes, into clinical workflows around 2023, with use expanding across care teams since then.
[Disclosure: Carilion is one of our donors, but donors have no say in news decisions; see our policy.]
Dr. Maruf Haider, associate chief medical information officer at Carilion, said that being more present during appointments can also help clinicians recall details more accurately when reviewing and finalizing notes later.
Patients can view notes during their appointments if they choose, Haider added.
“It’s a more thorough note that, in some cases, it picked up things that I would have not thought about putting in that was pertinent,” he said.
The benefits of such a tool are obvious. Many providers already spend what…
